Corrosion properties of Ca65-xMg17.5Zn17.5+x (x = 0, 2.5, 5) alloys

The aim of the paper is to study the effect of zinc addition on the corrosion behavior of Ca65–xMg17.5Zn17.5+x (x = 0, 2.5, 5 at.%) alloys in simulated physiological fluids at 37°C. The electrochemical measurements allowed to determine a corrosion potential, which showed a positive shift from –1.60 V for Ca65Mg17.5Zn17.5 alloy to –1.58 V for Ca60Mg17.5Zn22.5 alloy, adequately. The more significant decrease of hydrogen evolution was noticed for Ca60Mg17.5Zn22.5 alloy (22.4 ml/cm2) than for Ca62.5Mg17.5Zn20 and Ca65Mg17.5Zn17.5 samples (29.9 ml/cm2 and 46.4 ml/cm2), consequently. The corrosion products after immersion tests in Ringer’s solution during 1 h were identified by X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy as calcium, magnesium oxides, carbonates, hydroxides and calcium hydrate

Biotic interactions as mediators of context-dependent biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships

Biodiversity drives the maintenance and stability of ecosystem functioning as well as many of nature’s benefits to people, yet people cause substantial biodiversity change. Despite broad consensus about a positive relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF), the underlying mechanisms and their context-dependencies are not well understood. This proposal, submitted to the European Research Council (ERC), aims at filling this knowledge gap by providing a novel conceptual framework for integrating biotic interactions across guilds of organisms, i.e. plants and mycorrhizal fungi, to explain the ecosystem consequences of biodiversity change. The overarching hypothesis is that EF increases when more tree species associate with functionally dissimilar mycorrhizal fungi. Taking a whole-ecosystem perspective, we propose to explore the role of tree-mycorrhiza interactions in driving BEF across environmental contexts and how this relates to nutrient dynamics. Given the significant role that mycorrhizae play in soil nutrient and water uptake, BEF relationships will be investigated under normal and drought conditions. Resulting ecosystem consequences will be explored by studying main energy channels and ecosystem multifunctionality using food web energy fluxes and by assessing carbon storage. Synthesising drivers of biotic interactions will allow us to understand context-dependent BEF relationships. This interdisciplinary and integrative project spans the whole gradient from local-scale process assessments to global relationships by building on unique experimental infrastructures like the MyDiv Experiment, iDiv Ecotron and the global network TreeDivNet, to link ecological mechanisms to reforestation initiatives. This innovative combination of basic scientific research with real-world interventions links trait-based community ecology, global change research and ecosystem ecology, pioneering a new generation of BEF research and represents a significant step towards implementing BEF theory for human needs

Large-scale drivers of relationships between soil microbial properties and organic carbon across Europe

[Aim] Quantify direct and indirect relationships between soil microbial community properties (potential basal respiration, microbial biomass) and abiotic factors (soil, climate) in three major land-cover types.[Location] Europe.[Time period] 2018.[Major taxa studied] Microbial community (fungi and bacteria).[Methods] We collected 881 soil samples from across Europe in the framework of the Land Use/Land Cover Area Frame Survey (LUCAS). We measured potential soil basal respiration at 20 ºC and microbial biomass (substrate-induced respiration) using an O2-microcompensation apparatus. Soil and climate data were obtained from the same LUCAS survey and online databases. Structural equation models (SEMs) were used to quantify relationships between variables, and equations extracted from SEMs were used to create predictive maps. Fatty acid methyl esters were measured in a subset of samples to distinguish fungal from bacterial biomass.[Results] Soil microbial properties in croplands were more heavily affected by climate variables than those in forests. Potential soil basal respiration and microbial biomass were correlated in forests but decoupled in grasslands and croplands, where microbial biomass depended on soil carbon. Forests had a higher ratio of fungi to bacteria than grasslands or croplands.[Main conclusions] Soil microbial communities in grasslands and croplands are likely carbon-limited in comparison with those in forests, and forests have a higher dominance of fungi indicating differences in microbial community composition. Notably, the often already-degraded soils of croplands could be more vulnerable to climate change than more natural soils. The provided maps show potentially vulnerable areas that should be explicitly accounted for in future management plans to protect soil carbon and slow the increasing vulnerability of European soils to climate change.The LUCAS Soil sample collection is supported by the Directorate-General Environment (DG-ENV), Directorate-General Agriculture and Rural Development (DG-AGRI), Directorate-General Climate Action (DG-CLIMA) and Directorate-General Eurostat (DG-ESTAT) of the European Commission. F. Bastida thanks the Spanish Ministry and European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) funds for the project AGL2017–85755-R (AEI/FEDER, UE), the i-LINK+ 2018 (LINKA20069) from CSIC, and funds from ‘Fundación Séneca’ from Murcia Province (19896/GERM/15). M.C.R. acknowledges support from an European Research Commission (ERC) Advanced Grant (694368). This project was funded by the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig of the German Research Foundation (FZT 118-202548816).Peer reviewe

Blind spots in global soil biodiversity and ecosystem function research

Soils harbor a substantial fraction of the world’s biodiversity, contributing to many crucial ecosystem functions. It is thus essential to identify general macroecological patterns related to the distribution and functioning of soil organisms to support their conservation and consideration by governance. These macroecological analyses need to represent the diversity of environmental conditions that can be found worldwide. Here we identify and characterize existing environmental gaps in soil taxa and ecosystem functioning data across soil macroecological studies and 17,186 sampling sites across the globe. These data gaps include important spatial, environmental, taxonomic, and functional gaps, and an almost complete absence of temporally explicit data. We also identify the limitations of soil macroecological studies to explore general patterns in soil biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships, with only 0.3% of all sampling sites having both information about biodiversity and function, although with different taxonomic groups and functions at each site. Based on this information, we provide clear priorities to support and expand soil macroecological research.This manuscript developed from discussions within the German Centre of Integrative Biodiversity Research funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG FZT118). CAG and NE acknowledge funding by iDiv (DFG FZT118) Flexpool proposal 34600850. C.A.G., A.H.B., J.S., A.C., N.G.R., S.C., L.B., M.C.R., F.B., J.O., G.P., H.R.P.P., M.W., T.W., K.K., and N.E. acknowledge funding by iDiv (DFG FZT118) Flexpool proposal 34600844. N.E. acknowledges funding by the DFG (FOR 1451) and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 677232). Finally we would like to acknowledge the contribution of all the authors that provided their datasets for analysis within this paper. Open access funding provided by Projekt DEAL

Determination of zearalenone and its metabolites in endometrial cancer by coupled separation techniques

This study presents a selective method of isolation of zearalenone (ZON) and its metabolite, α-zearalenol (α-ZOL), in neoplastically changed human tissue by accelerated solvent and ultrasonic extractions using a mixture of acetonitrile/water (84/16% v/v) as the extraction solvent. Extraction effectiveness was determined through the selection of parameters (composition of the solvent mixture, temperature, pressure, number of cycles) with tissue contamination at the level of nanograms per gram. The produced acetonitrile/water extracts were purified, and analytes were enriched in columns packed with homemade molecularly imprinted polymers. Purified extracts were determined by liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with different detection systems (diode array detection - DAD and mass spectrometry - MS) involving the Ascentis RP-Amide as a stationary phase and gradient elution. The combination of UE-MISPE-LC (ultrasonic extraction - molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction - liquid chromatography) produced high (R ≈ 95–98%) and repeatable (RSD < 3%) recovery values for ZON and α-ZOL

Genotypic variability enhances the reproducibility of an ecological study

Many scientific disciplines are currently experiencing a “reproducibility crisis” because numerous scientific findings cannot be repeated consistently. A novel but controversial hypothesis postulates that stringent levels of environmental and biotic standardization in experimental studies reduces reproducibility by amplifying impacts of lab-specific environmental factors not accounted for in study designs. A corollary to this hypothesis is that a deliberate introduction of controlled systematic variability (CSV) in experimental designs may lead to increased reproducibility. We tested this hypothesis using a multi-laboratory microcosm study in which the same ecological experiment was repeated in 14 laboratories across Europe. Each laboratory introduced environmental and genotypic CSV within and among replicated microcosms established in either growth chambers (with stringent control of environmental conditions) or glasshouses (with more variable environmental conditions). The introduction of genotypic CSV led to lower among-laboratory variability in growth chambers, indicating increased reproducibility, but had no significant effect in glasshouses where reproducibility was generally lower. Environmental CSV had little effect on reproducibility. Although there are multiple causes for the “reproducibility crisis”, deliberately including genetic variation may be a simple solution for increasing the reproducibility of ecological studies performed in controlled environments

Management accounting instruments as a security engineering tools used in solving crisis problems

Managing organizations means taking lots of decisions based on information contained mainly in the accounting books and financial statements. The processing of this information for decision-making purposes is the domain of management accounting, offering managers a number of decision-making tools described in this article to help overcome difficulties (threats), also known as crisis situations. From the presented management tools (security engineering tools) budgeting with attention to the creation of a budget in the enterprise (traditional budget and budget based on activity-based costing) and task-based budget in public finance sector units has been characterized. Both budgets were compared, taking into account common features. The comparison shows that budgeting based on activity-based costing and task-based budgeting are instruments combining goals with the tasks of the organization and the efficiency of using the resources available